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Great white shark dies after choking on sea lion

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A great white shark that washed ashore in Australia this week died choking on a sea lion.

Footage posted on YouTube showed the shark beaching itself and thrashing two days before finally washing up on Coronation Beach, Western Australia. "[The sea lion] could explain why the shark was exhibiting such unusual behaviour in shallow waters off Coronation Beach. It is possible that the shark was trying to dislodge the blockage," the Principal Research Scientist for the Western Australian Department of Fisheries Rory McAuley said.

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According to Tash Tapper, who shot the footage of the shark, for two hours it repeatedly went offshore "about 50 metres" before coming back to flail on the beach. "To me it seemed it was coming in to die," Tapper told WA Today.

Department of Fisheries WA

"Such a large object may have damaged the shark's internal organs or impeded water flow into his gills, contributing to his death," said McAuley in a statement. "Alternatively, the shark may have accidentally become stranded in his attempts to get rid of the obstruction."

The shark was first spotted on Saturday 12 July and was found several days later on 15 July washed up further down the beach.

It had been tagged by the Department of Fisheries in South Australia in January for research purposes, which "demonstrates the extraordinarily mobile nature of this species," said McAuley.

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Aside from the large Australian sea lion stuck in its throat, the four-metre-long shark apparently showed no signs of injury or disease.